If you’ve bought an artsy-crafty item on the web lately, or if you read Fred Wilson’s blog A VC, then you’ve probably run into Etsy. Since launching in June 2005, this Brooklyn-based company has managed to build an extremely enthusiastic fan base and become the eBay of handmade goods.

Etsy is all about community. There’s a blog (of course) and a forum and a wiki and something called Etsy Labs, an actual physical space in Brooklyn where they give classes about how to make things. Pretty brilliant–building community and training their own suppliers!

And what about the name Etsy? Where does it come from? Ah, that is the mystery. There’s been a thread about that question for more than a year and a half on the Etsy forum. Etsy developer Rokali/Rob has done nothing to clear the mystery up, and has even cranked up his own fog machine. First he hinted that the name is somehow related to Federico Fellini’s film 8½. In a brief television spot on the company, he suggested that the name is from Latin et si ‘and if’. Another Etsy developer, RevolvingDork, cryptically mentioned the sentence “IT’S A SECRET TO EVERYBODY!” on the forum, and pointed to a screen capture from a video game (which has since been removed). Someone picked up on the clue and conjectured that Etsy is based on that sentence: ignore the article a, make an acronym, reverse the letters, and replace the i with a y. Simple.

Contributors to the forum have also come up with their own theories. One is that Etsy is based on the Unix directory /etc, pronounced “et-C”. The Name Inspector came up with his own crazy theory: if you write eBay as Ebay, the orthographic similarity to Etsy is striking, because the t in Etsy looks like a b missing part of its curve, and the s looks like a backwards a missing a line. Simple. Turns out someone on the forum already thought of that.

Does it really matter where Etsy comes from or what it means? What’s really interesting is the strength of the community’s conviction that Etsy must mean something. People crave meaning, and will look for it if it doesn’t walk up and say “hey”. The desire to figure out the “secret” of the name Etsy might matter more than any true story about its origin.

Of course, whatever the founders may have had in mind when they came up with it, the name Etsy has its own special character. It rhymes with the name Betsy, which makes it vaguely personified and friendly. Mostly it’s tiny. It evokes the phrase itsy-bitsy, and has all the right sound symbolism to match. The -y ending is unmistakeably diminutive sounding. The short and high-ish first vowel and the voiceless alveolar consonants in the middle all add to the smallness evoked by the sound. Also, when you say this name, you make tiny little gestures with the tip of your tongue.

So, why would a company want its name to seem small? Well, it’s cute, and a lot of the stuff sold on Etsy is cute (plush toys that are “shy” and need “lots of hugs”, crocheted anthropomorphic ice cream cones, Big Eye kitty patches, etc.). The cuteness also contributes to the friendly vibe on the website and in the forum.

Cuteness aside, the concept of smallness fits the company. It conveys the idea that the merchandise on the site is made in small quantities on a small scale (usually by individuals rather than companies), and Etsy itself is a small company. Also, smallness suggests precision and attention to minute detail, which is perfect for handmade goods.

The name Etsy projects the image of a small grass-roots start-up. If the company continues to live up to this image, it could be really big.

When I first found the site, I didn’t think anything of the name, but nearly everyone I told about would say “what does Etsy mean?”. Once I became aware of the mystery, I was sure to pass that on. People love a mystery.

Funny I remember that thread, and I remember I said this about reversing the sentence “it’s a secret to everyone” and replacing the “i” with a “y” because etsi.com was already taken by another company, a telecommunication company or something….
cool…
nice article…

Everyone who works here knows its actually named after Rob’s childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth (Betsy) Asquith. When he was a kid, he had to wear so much orthopedic headgear that her name always came out “Ethsy” and thats what everyone called her. Yound love is so adorable.

Yes indeed, it is addictive, but this is a healthy one, I THINK! I am new, absolutely in love and so happy that I am fortunate enough to have stumbled upon it. Word of mouth, as they say, works wonders, and though Rome wasn’t built in a day, this thing is going to be huge, already I’ve got two friends that are developing their ideas about their shops to be, and that is a wonderful thing. Props.

What a fantastic article! I was wondering this just the other day – thanks for, er, giving me more to wonder about.

on 13 Apr 2007 at 9:21 pm beege

Hmmm, hasn’t anyone ever looked at the ‘about Etsy’ page?

on 02 May 2007 at 3:54 pm CoconutPalmDesigns

I never really thought what it means but I like the mystery of it. And yes, I think it’s going to become a very big thing. Like Janetlyn, I have a friend who’s thinking about joining too and we both live in Belize, Central America.

No fellow Greek people around here!?
The moment I discovered that website, it was rather too clear to me what the name meant!
The sound ‘etsi’ in greek is an actual word, an adverb, meaning: so, thus, in this way.
What way? The handmade way, of course!
I’m no linguist, neither have any connections to the Etsy team, so I might be completely wrong… But I thought you might want to know my version of the story…!

Etsy is a Great Community where you can find artists and crafters from all over the world and people who like and support handmade… I love to sell my stuff on Etsy…

on 10 Sep 2008 at 8:21 pm sally

Hi all i think that the name Etsy has a different kind of meaning for everyone but its along the lines of : anything out of the ordinary, cutsy, cup cakey, vintage books, posters figurines, barbie dolls, miniture things, kinky cute, skulls and lipstick, polka dots and teddy bears, but i think that the name really comes from the word Itsy meaning small, cute the ohhhh factor. The E just makes it look more mysterious. Either way i love “etsy” pics so bring it on!!!

Etsy seems to be picking up steam lately as the Web marketplace of choice for unique handmade giftware.
It’s a bit too artsy-craftsy for me (except maybe for the custom-crafted t-shirts). But the name “Etsy” itself is unusual enough t…

Kate, that’s the most satisfying explanation I’ve seen so far. Do you know of any photos showing a pattern with ETSY on it?

on 06 Dec 2009 at 11:13 pm steve

what about:
E (Ecommerce)
TSY crafTSY, arTSY

on 15 Dec 2009 at 9:09 pm Brian B

From the December 09 – Reader’s Digest

“I wanted a nonsense word because I wanted to build the brand from scratch. I was watching Fellini’s 8½ and writing down what I was hearing. In Italian, you say etsi a lot. It means “oh, yes.” And in Latin, it means “and if.”

I actually ended up at this site after I googled “Does eBay own Etsy?” I would have been so annoyed if they did!!! As a seller on eBay who’s rather fed up with them, I totally love Etsy!! I kept hearing seeing it on facebook and had to check it out. The whole thing is brilliant!!
The explanation for the name is awesome in this article! Very interesting and well thought out!! I also like the “e” and artsy/craftsy theory. With the name’s, I don’t know, subliminal (?) reference to “little” and it’s similarity to the words artsy and craftsy, I consider the guys who named it geniuses!! I’m inspired to start making something at home so I can be a part of this great little idea that I’m sure will be big!!
Good luck and God bless everyone buying and selling on Etsy! I plan to be one of yins soon!

on 26 Mar 2010 at 8:15 am Fvin

LilaDiam!
Thank you! I feel less crazy for wondering whether etsy was from the Greek “thus.”

on 28 Jul 2010 at 12:46 pm Angela

Since I’ve been an Etsy addict for well over a year (and it didn’t take me long to get hooked…once I discovered the site), I can’t believe it took me so long to think “What does ‘Etsy’ mean?”

I’m even more flabbergasted that Etsy has been around since mid-2005, and it took me so long to discover them!

After I shared the joys of uncovering hidden treasures on Etsy with a coworker, she shared a New Yorker article with me. It used the term “Etsy-esque”. After reading the article, I just had to look up the term ‘Etsy’ and find out what it meant…or whether or not it had a meaning. (Curious thing: We segued to the topic of “Where does the word ‘ketchup’ originate? After all, it doesn’t begin to resemble the word tomato!”)

on 22 Nov 2010 at 2:50 pm Tamara

When I first started using Etsy a few years ago, I was told it stood for “Easy to sell yourself”. It sounded good, so that has always been what I tell people when they ask.

on 23 Dec 2010 at 6:37 pm Nick

Mystery = yretsym or Etsy

on 30 Jan 2011 at 5:16 pm Trish Freyer

There is many shop names on Etsy that have no meaning.When you open an account to buy something you must create a username.Then if you decide to begin to sell you cant change that name again.Many people got stuck with off the wall shop names including myself.Maybe that’s what happened to them.Ha!Ha!

on 01 Feb 2011 at 7:33 pm DinaD

If you every watched my Big Fat Wedding, then you’d know everything comes from Greece. Etsy comes from the Greek ‘eh-tsi’ which means “like this/that/so”. So Etsy is where you find things like this, like that, or like so. And there you go.

Mystery solved. You’re welcome.

on 13 Feb 2011 at 1:14 pm Betsy

My name is Betsy, and I was just arguing with my brother over the pronunciation of “etsy”. He thought it was “eat-see”. I said, of course, that it rhymes with my name, to which he replied, “you only think that because your name is Betsy!” I’m glad I’m right, and that I have something to back me up!

Hand made = art/artistic/crafty/talented
Art is open for interpretation. The name “etsy” is open for interpretation. Many here have given GREAT interpretations for the name. And maybe THAT is exactly what the creator wanted. After all, it makes people TALK about it, drawing more attention & generating more traffic to the site. I think it is brilliant!

on 09 Dec 2012 at 5:31 am catherine-word police division

ETSY LIKE O.B.G.Y.N are the 2 most annoying modern words!
are americans too lazy to say full names,so they reduce them to a diminutive?!